Launched in March 2013, the so called 'slipit' or slip joint, non locking folding knife, features full flat grind, leaf-shape, CR13 steel blade with thumb ramp and finger choil jimping. With lightweight, hard wearing, G10 handle and reversible wire pocket clip, UK legal, every day carry pocket knife. After being out of production for over a year, Spyderco announced that the Byrd Tern folding knife is back in production with a new maker. Feedback on public online discussion forums has been very positive about the new version of the Byrd Tern folding knife.

The owner of Spyderco Inc. makes an effort to engage with the end-users of Spyderco products, by using popular knife related online discussion boards. The Byrd Tern BY23GP knife is an example of Spyderco responding to public demand. The major benefit for a manufacturing company is up to the minute market research provided by this activity. One of the disadvantages of such accessibility is the potential for negative feedback. As anyone with any training in customer service knows, those customers who complain are your best customers. They are the ones who care enough about the quality of your product to take the trouble to complain. Another customer service skill is the ability to turn around negative feedback to the advantage of the Company. The way complaints are dealt with is crucial to the public image of a company. For a manufacturer, developing a new product is an expensive and lengthy process. Having invested time and money in the development process, there is no guarantee that the product will be taken up by the marketplace.

A public discussion forum with several thousand members worldwide, many of them existing satisfied customers of your company is a tailor made market research / design facility. That is exactly what happened over the course of several months this year when, in typically British fashion, forum users were complaining about the cost in the UK of Spyderco knives. The basic design for a low cost, UK legal carry knife gradually took shape and eventually became the Byrd Tern Knife. According to the owner of Spyderco Inc. referring to The Byrd Tern knife - " This design was created and produced specifically because of the requests from you, here on BB."